PUBG mobile installation: How to download PUBG: Exhilarating Battlefield or Army Attack on iOS and Android

PUBG Mobile - also known as PUBG Exhilarating Battlefield in China - is a surprisingly faithful take on the PC and console shooter that took 2017 by storm.

Though the idea of taking PUBG on the go is enticing, the problem is it's not technically available outside of China - and the recently added western version, PUBG Mobile, that's available on Android in Canada - though with the right steps, it is possible to download PUBG on iOS or Android from any region if you know how.

Do I download PUBG Exhilarating Battlefield or PUBG Army Attack?

To start with, let's take a look at downloading the Chinese version of the app, as believe it or not that's actually the more easily available of the two for now, and the only one available on iOS.

Not only is PUBG not out on mobile outside of China and Canada but, to make matters more confusing, there are two versions of the Chinese PUBG made available by publisher Tencent.

Though they look similar, if you're after the Chinese version the one that you are looking for is PUBG Exhilarating Battlefield, which is the mobile version of the Battlegrounds you know and love.

PUBG Exhilarating Battlefield is a pretty good approximation of the fully fledged Battlegrounds experience. There are, of course, a number of differences to make it suit a smaller, touch-enabled screen.

How to download PUBG on iOS

Downloading PUBG on iOS is a little fussy, but doesn't take longer than 10 minutes when you get down to it. Note that, for now, the Canadian version of the game is only available on Android, so here in this section we'll just be talking about Exhilarating Battlefield.

The following steps assume you are downloading directly from your iOS device on iOS 11, though you can do the same through iTunes if you wish.

1) On your device, log out of your current Apple account. You can do this by opening Settings, selecting your account at the very top (between the Search and Airplane Mode options), then Sign Out at the bottom.

We recommend you do a full iCloud backup before you do this, however, which your device will warn you about.

2) Back in the top of Settings, go to the accounts section and create a new iCloud account. Go through the various options until you are asked about an email address to assign it to.

Use an existing email address you already down, but one that's different to one already in use for any existing iCloud accounts.

3) Continue through the settings - verification, passcode and so on - until you have verified your email address and created the account.

4) With that done, the account is created. Go to the App Store app, then log in to your account again.

This time it says your account needs setting up further, and given the option to select your region. China is the one you want. At this point it may say you need to set up your iCloud account further - this will take you back to Settings, so say 'Not Now', agree to the terms then hit Next.

5) Here is where you then set up payment (set to None) and address details; there are plenty of Address Generator websites out there you can use for this purpose.

6) You should then be ready to go. Search for PUBG in the App Store, and you'll be presented with the two apps. For us, it was the top of the two (at the time of writing, the one with the darker sky in the logo).

If you're struggling to find it, you can go directly to the game's store page.

When you run the game, you might have to create a QQ account or WeChat account before playing - which might be easier using a laptop than on your phone. Once that's done, you're all set!

How to download PUBG on Android

For Android users, the process of downloading PUBG Exhilarating Battlefield is far simpler, whilst there's also a way to download the western version of the game, PUBG Mobile, if you're outside of Canada, too. First, download the TapTap app from the store, then within that, search for PUBG.

If you are struggling to find it, then search for the publisher Tencent and see its list of released games, or go directly to the game's store page.

When you run the game, you might have to create a QQ account or WeChat account before playing - which might be easier using a laptop than on your phone. Once that's done, you're all set!

How to download Canadian PUBG Mobile outside of Canada

Downloading the Canadian version is a different matter, with it only being available on the actual Android App Store via Google Play, which takes note of your region in a more restrictive manner than TapTap.

To download it, you'll need to change your phone's region to Canada - you can try doing so with a VPN, or by going the official route and changing it in the Google Payments Centre, although note that a lot of people find themselves hitting a brick wall this way thanks to a generally unreliable service, and this does require you to have a Canadian address to hand, too.

Likewise, with PUBG hitting mobiles in Canada it's extremely unlikely that it won't hit other major regions like the US and Europe soon, so you may just want to hold out for that version rather than going through these steps - but here's the official way how, according to Google, anyway!